The Ox Girls
by Highly Flammable Man
Summary: An Orussian Witch's account of her time spent serving during the war against the Neuroi.
1. Preface and Meeting the Girls of the 82

Chapter 1: Preface and Meeting the Girls of the 82nd.

The war with the Neuroi ended on August 13th/14th, 1947. Everyone left across the face of the Earth knows this and it is already being put into history books just a few short months after. Indeed, the entire history of the war is being hastily gathered, compiled and written down as reconstruction takes place across the world. So why should I bother to write this? There are certainly those more qualified than I am already at work on it. They will focus on famous battles and Witches (most notably those who served in the 501st), note dates and times and try to calculate just how much was lost in the defense of humanity. I am not writing about that so much as I am writing how it was to be a Witch during the war. There are also several things I want to put into writing (events, people, places, the final attack) before they are distorted by embellishment and gossip into fanciful legends. Sadly, this has already started for some things. Some of this will not be easy to read, it is not easy to write, but it must be told. I can not say that my experiences were how every Witch lived, only how my comrades and I did.

It is impossible to talk about the war and not mention the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. They were the most publicized and glamorized unit in the war. Most of them were already famous aces in their home countries before the 501st was formed and as a unit they achieved some amazing victories, but their lives were not close to ours. We did not live in a luxurious castle with separate rooms, we lived in barracks with our beds only a few feet apart. We did not leisurely wait about hundreds of miles from the front lines for a Neuroi to be sighted, we hunted. I remember seeing propaganda posters of them hung up around our base; pictures of various members of the 501st posing dramatically with their weapons as if in combat. We did not have time for such trivial things.

It must sound like I despise them or perhaps just harbor an intense envy of them, and during the war of course I did. Most Witches I have spoken to admit to having moments of hatred for the 501st and even more moments of jealousy, we would all have been liars to say otherwise. Of course we wanted to live in a castle with our own rooms instead of bedding down in dark barracks. We would have loved to sit by the ocean under the warm sun simply waiting for the enemy to come to us instead of flying through harsh winds and snow to launch an attack on the Hives near the Ural Mountains. No matter what we thought of the Witches in the 501st at any given time we followed their lives. When the evening news broadcast came on we would all gather around the radio and listen for anything about the 501st. We would cheer their victories and mourn their few losses because no matter how differently we lived from them, we were all Witches.

The Witches of the 501st can not be blamed for how they lived while their unit was active and I doubt any of them had any choice about joining either. Even when I first heard news of the formation of a multi-national fighter wing I knew that the main reason was nothing more than propaganda. It was a way of easing the growing tensions of the people. Rumors, sometimes presented as hotly-spoken truths, that The United States of Liberion was in league with the Neuroi since they had yet to be directly attacked; or that Fuso was actually controlling the Neuroi spread across the nations. To stop the people from wanting a fellow human's blood the 501st Joint Fighter Wing was created and shown off to the world at every possible moment. The message was clear, if these Witches from all different countries could live and fight together every citizen should as well. It worked.

That is enough about the 501st for now though I will go into more detail of their individual lives after the second time the unit was disbanded. They were the faces of the war and their deeds deserve to be recorded with a harsh eye before the actual details are lost. For now I will tell you about the time I spent with my unit during the war. My name is Mstislav Lisitskaia

and I served with the 82nd Orussian Heavy Attack Wing, also known as the Ox-Girls.

I grew up on a farm, as many Orussians did at that time, with my mother who was a seamstress by trade and my father who had been in the Orussian Army until he was discharged due to injury. The first two fingers on his right hand are missing and to this day he will not tell me how he lost them. The day the draft letter came telling me that I was now in the Orussian Air Force both of my parents burst into tears. In the following weeks my mother was prone to fits of crying and clinging to me, telling me that she wouldn't let them take me. My father spoke less and less to me, spending most of his time outside staring at the sky. It became so uncomfortable that I remember wishing I was already gone and in training. The night before I left for the military base my father set me down at the kitchen table across from him, poured two glasses of Vodka and sat one of them down in front of me. I had never drank alcohol before, I was only fifteen at the time, but I was not going to refuse my father. He raised his glass and I mimicked him.

"To Orussia, to the World, because now that they have you this war shall surely be won." he toasted and then drained his glass in one gulp.

I followed suit somehow managing to swallow the burning liquid all at once. I was both embarrassed and filled with pride at my father's words. He filled our glasses again and we began to sip at the Vodka as he told me what to expect when I got to the base. He told me that my first days there were going to be the worst of my life not because of the intense physical training but because of the hazing. I had never heard the word 'hazing' before and I asked him to explain it. He hesitated for a moment, took two more shots, and then began to explain. He told me that the other members in my unit would beat me, yell at me, call me names and anything else they could do to try and break me. After hearing that I downed my shot and held my glass out for a refill. My father went on to tell me that no matter what they did or how badly it hurt that I could not give in. If I had to cry I had to do it silently. I could not yell at them, could not fight back. He told me that I had to take everything they did to me and remain standing strong. If I were able to do this he told me that I would be closer than family to the people in my unit. I did not understand how he could think something like that and he didn't bother to explain any further. He sent me to bed that night slightly drunk and terrified.

The next morning I was on a bus by myself headed north to begin my military career. I spent the entire ride trying to convince myself that my father had been wrong. Maybe the men did that to each other in the Army but certainly not Witches. I was the one who was wrong of course but the things my father had described were nothing compared to what was waiting for me.

When I arrived at the base it was late in the afternoon and I was instructed to simply go to a low building with the number 82 painted on the side. It was the barracks that I would call home for a long time. When I entered the barracks I was surprised to find it empty, just two rows of beds along either of the walls with footlockers in front of each of them. There were names painted on the tops of five of the footlockers, the rest were blank. I opened the one with my last name on it and found a uniform shirt, black stockings, boots, a grey t-shirt with '82nd' printed on it and a pistol in a holster. I shut the footlocker without touching anything and sat on top of it feeling nervous and unsure of what to do. I do not know how long I waited before I heard the approaching voices outside. They sounded cheerful and were punctuated with laughter. I felt my heart rise at that moment now almost certain that my father had been wrong about the hazing.

The door opened and four girls walked in dressed in their uniforms, pistols strapped against their chests. The cheerfulness and laughter was gone and the looks on their faces as they approached me were frightening. It was obvious that the girl with the short red hair and scar that ran from her bottom lip to her left eye was the leader of the group. She stood directly in front of me with the other three girls spread out from her, boxing me in. I glanced at them all quickly noticing that all of them had a silver ring pierced through their noses between their nostrils. They all seemed to be waiting for me to say something so despite how hard my heart was beating and telling me to run I stood up and introduced myself.

"Hey, my name is Mstislav Lisit–

That was as far as I got before the girl with red hair hit me. It was an open-handed smack that felt like a right hook to my cheek. The blow was hard enough to stagger me and tears immediately sprang up in my eyes. Before I could recover one of the other girls kicked the back of my knee and sent me to the floor. I started to push myself up but a hard kick to the stomach knocked the breath out of me and collapsed me back to the floor. Someone sat on my back and grabbed a handful of my hair, pulling hard and holding so that my face was upturned and I was looking at their leader.

"Anything else to say, filthy farm girl?" She asked.

"No Ma'am!" The words were out of my mouth before I realized that it was the wrong choice to speak at all.

This was met with my hair being pulled harder and a kick to my left kidney.

"No Sir, you fucking useless thing!." She screamed at me.

"No Sir!" I shouted, again before I could think better of it.

The girl pulling my hair suddenly changed direction and slammed my face into the concrete floor. My nose didn't break but it did begin to pour blood immediately and when my head was wrenched back a few drops flew and landed on the redhead's shirt.

"You stupid bitch!" The anger in her voice was pure. "You ruined my shirt! It's bad enough you come in here and make everything stink as bad as you do, but then you ruin my shirt? You stupid animal!"

The weight on my back suddenly disappeared and I was hauled roughly to my feet. The lower half of my face was already sticky with blood and I could hear drops of it spattering onto the concrete floor. My vision, which had been clouded by tears, was cleared again as I was hit twice more in the face.

The redhead made a noise of disgust as she looked down at her hand which was covered in my blood, "I'm going to go wash this filthy animal's blood off of me. Make sure she knows her place by the time I get back."

As soon as she was gone another one of the girls stepped in front of me and grinned so wide that I could see nearly all of her teeth, noticing that she was missing a tooth near the back of her mouth. She was shorter than I was with blonde hair that was cut into a bob and dull blue eyes. He nose looked like it had been broken at least once before. I wondered if her missing tooth and broken nose were a result of her hazing. Was I going to be hurt that badly?

"Hey there animal," she spoke in such a friendly voice I could almost feel the danger underneath her words, "I just want to know what the hell you think you are doing."

I didn't answer.

"Because I've never seen a stupid animal wear clothes or stand up on its hind legs like that." She continued, her wide grin never leaving her face. "I think you should act like the animal you are and stop pretending to be human."

Again, I was silent.

She looked past me at the other two girls who had been holding me in place and said simply, "Strip her."

They literally tore the clothes from my body ripping and destroying them leaving me completely naked. It was at this point that I felt the first few sobs try to grab at my chest as the three slowly circled around me. There was a moment where absolutely everything was still and then they descended on me.

"Look at its tits! How are you supposed to milk something that small?"

"Too fucking scrawny to be any use in the field."

Something shouted in a language I didn't understand.

They smacked my butt and my breasts, pinched and twisted my nipples, struck me hard nearly everywhere they could reach. I lost the battle to my tears then. My face burning with humiliation and my mind spinning terrified and confused I let out two loud sobs before I could manage to cut them off. The girl with the broken nose was immediately in front of me again, still grinning.

"Now you're going to cry from a little bit of teasing? Fucking pathetic." Her grin dropped into a sneer and her face screwed up as if just looking at me disgusted her. "All fours useless bitch!"

She was so quick that I never saw the hit coming, her fist was just suddenly buried below my ribs. My vision went black and I hit the floor unable to breathe. This girl, all of these girls, were actually trying to hurt me. I tried desperately to breathe in but my chest had seized up completely. I was going to die naked and bloody on a cold floor.

"I said all fours!" She screamed and placed her boot on my face, "Are you that stupid? Am I going to have to train you?"

She began to grind her boot heel into my face and the fresh pain brought me back a little. My chest unclenched and I could breathe again between fits of violent coughing. It felt like it took several long minutes but I was finally able to prop myself up on my hands and knees hoping that was what the girl wanted. I stared at the ground watching a mixture of blood, spit and tears form beneath my face. Someone snapped their fingers a few times next to my ear and I looked up instinctively. A pretty girl with brown hair braided against her scalp and deep green eyes was staring back down at me with a harsh look on her face. Her skin was a light olive color and I wondered if she were foreign.

She said something to me in a language I didn't understand and after a few moments of me staring dumbly up at her she squatted down in front of me, grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked my head back bringing my face inches from her's.

"I said speak," she said slowly. She was speaking Orussian but with a thick accent I didn't recognize, "tell us what kind of animal you are."

"I'm–

She smashed my face into the floor and yanked my head back up to face her in one quick, brutal motion. My face felt shattered and fresh blood began to pour again.

"I said speak, tell us what kind of animal you are." She repeated.

Somehow my brain put together that she wanted me to make noises like an animal. My familiar was an ox and having plowed the fields many times back at home with the yolk of oxen we owned I knew what they sounded like. I tried my best to mimic their lowing and snorting. I only managed to cough and sputter blood across the girl's boots but before she could do anything I tried again louder actually managing to make a noise similar to an ox.

All three of them laughed and the girl behind me, the one I still hadn't gotten a good look at said, "Oh no, was that supposed to be an ox? Kira's going to love this."

The sound of a door opening, "What am I going to love?" The redhead's name must be Kira.

Everything was becoming distant and hazy. I was losing consciousness quickly.

"This thing thinks she's an ox!"

"Ha! An ox? Its not even a slug! Does it know it's place?"

"For now."

One of them spit on me, "Clean up that blood, fucking animal, it stinks like you do."

I was flipped onto my back and one of them dropped onto my chest, straddling it, the sudden movement bringing my vision back into focus. At first I thought it was the girl with the broken nose but this girl's hair was long and pulled into a ponytail. Her blue eyes were brighter and her nose was normal, the two could have been sisters though. She leaned down so that our foreheads were touching and pinched one of my nipples, twisting hard.

"Welcome to the slaughterhouse, stupid animal." She whispered.

As she stood up she drove her knee into my stomach leaving me to gasp for breath in a slowly growing pool of my own blood. The four of them ignored me as I faded in and out of consciousness their cheerful voices and laughter following me down distantly as my eyes finally shut.

This was my introduction to the girls in the 82nd but it was by no means the end of my suffering at their hands.


	2. Meat Locker

Chapter Two: Meat Locker.

She had been right in calling it a slaughterhouse. It was brutal and terrifying and looking back on it I am sure that there were several times where I nearly died. I do not know for sure how long my hazing lasted, as it went on the days became nothing more than a hellishly long blur, but I do know that it was the longest moment of my life. I do not remember every individual torture or beating I received but there are several that stick out in my mind to this day and I will tell you of those. It is important to know that I do not look back on this time of my life with regret or anger. It was something that needed to happen. I firmly believe that if I had not suffered such brutality at my fellow witches' hands I would not have survived the war, and had they not suffered the same they would not have survived either. I hope that by writing this I will be able to explain why in time.

First and foremost I was not allowed to stand upright while I was in the barracks. I had to move around on my hands and knees like an animal. I wasn't allowed to speak either; I could only grunt and snort and low like an ox. I wasn't allowed to wear clothes. I had to strip as soon as I set foot through the door and then drop to my hands and knees. Finally, and perhaps least humiliating for me, I wasn't allowed to sleep in my bed but on the floor. If I didn't do any of these things it resulted in an immediate and fierce beating from the other girls. These rules weren't explained to me rather I learned them from being beaten and screamed at. I was only referred to as "animal" or "it", I didn't have a name.

These rules were for the barracks only of course, away from the eyes of everyone else. Outside I could wear my uniform, walk upright and speak but that did not mean that I was safe outside of the barracks. The other girls of the 82nd were very good at torturing me no matter where we were at. When we were in the mess hall one of them would trip me or "accidentally" knock the trey of food from my hands and I would spend the rest of my mealtime cleaning up the mess. I did this for three days, not eating and simply cleaning up the mess before leaving, before I broke. The next time it happened I dropped to my knees and began eating off the floor with my hands. I didn't care that everyone in the mess hall was staring at me and whispering. I didn't care that the girls of the 82nd were laughing at me. I was starving, I had to eat.

"There you go animal, eat off the ground." One of them said.

"Disgusting."

"Let's go, I've lost my appetite watching the animal eat."

They left and I continued to eat off of the floor, crying as I did so.

In the showers I was forced to use the showerhead at the far end which was broken and only ran cold water and since the showers and bathroom were connected to our barracks I had to do so on my hands and knees. It is important to say though that they never tried to bother me while I was using the bathroom or touch between my legs though those were the only two mercies I was afforded.

Each of the girls had their own way of beating me down physically and mentally. Kira Ankundinova was perhaps the most simple with her abuse. She would punch and kick me, knock me over while I was crawling around and sometimes get one of the other girls to hold me up with my arms behind my back while she used me as a punching bag. She didn't say much to me, other than calling me 'animal', but she was not shy about telling the other girls what to do to me. Kira did not abuse me emotionally or mentally often but whenever I broke one of the rules she was the first to hit me and she hit the hardest.

Galina Gavrikova, the blonde with the broken nose and missing tooth, frightened me the most when she came after me. She would often slam me against a wall and pin me there with her forearm against my throat and the fingers of her other hand tented and tensed against my stomach. Then she would lean into me slowly closing my throat as her fingers dug into my stomach. As I struggled to breathe her breathing became ragged as well and her body trembled slightly as if she were becoming, well, aroused by doing this to me. This would continue until she was pressed up against me, her face nearly touching mine. Then, when my vision was beginning to turn black, she jammed her fingers deep into my stomach cutting me with her sharp fingernails and driving the last of my breath from me. After that I was dumped to the floor and ignored while Galina would usually go off and pin either Kira or Rusalka against a wall in a much different manner.

Rusalka Petrowa, the other blonde, enjoyed jumping onto my back and riding me around usually while grabbing a handful of my hair and jerking my head violently in the direction she wanted me to go. Once while she was doing this I'm certain she almost seriously injured me, or at least hurt me worse than she meant to. Riding me through the barracks she cried out, "Faster, stupid animal!" and then swung her heels inward into my abdomen. I let out a grunt of pain and collapsed to the floor immediately. It felt like my insides had turned into burning liquid and I coughed up a mouthful of bile though I somehow managed to swallow back the vomit that was trying to follow it.

Rusalka leaned down and laughed loudly in my face, "You really are a fucking useless animal."

After that she no longer kicked me to urge me to move faster instead she would wrench my head backward and slap me hard in the face.

Zarya Cheremisinova was strange. Other than her accent making it hard for me to understand what she was saying she also never seemed to smile or display much emotion. I wouldn't say she was nicest to me but she didn't hit me as much as the other girls. She would squat down so she could look me in the face and then ask me a question or tell me to do something. When I wouldn't respond because I couldn't understand what she was saying her reaction was always the same. She would grab a handful of my hair and slam my face into the floor and then wrench my head back up to look at her. This was repeated over and over until I could grunt or snort or low to her satisfaction.

These are by no means the only things that were done to me. I was punched, kicked and slapped all over my body on a daily basis. I was screamed at and insulted as often as I was beaten, if not more. It was constant, it is important to know that. It didn't stop. I was always in pain, constantly covered in bruises, black eyes, split and swollen lips, always seeming to be bleeding from somewhere. Not even in sleep was I safe. I was woken up numerous times during the middle of the night by one of them grinding their heel into some part of my body or being slung across the floor and against a wall or one of the unoccupied beds. I lost myself in the pain and fell into a depression. I forgot that I was even in boot camp, that I was supposedly becoming a soldier to fight the Neuroi. My only purpose was to suffer for the enjoyment of these four girls.

As bad as all this must sound it was nothing compared to the worst punishment I received while I was in boot camp. My back still bears the scars from it and it shall for the rest of my life. It was what nearly broke me and made me consider suicide.

We were practicing dogfighting maneuvers armed with machine guns that had been loaded with paint rounds. Of course the other girls concentrated on me and after being "shot down" three times I wanted nothing more than to at least score a hit on one of them. The next time I took to the sky my chance presented itself. I should have known I was being set up but at the time I could only think of getting the simple revenge of making one of them feel the harsh sting of the paint rounds. Galina was making a wide banking turn and I came in steep from below her, got her in my sights and pulled the trigger. Instead of the somewhat hollow banging of the paint rounds there was the sharp crack of live ammunition being fired. Galina raised her shield in time to block the bullets of course, she had set me up and left herself open to lure me into shooting at her. Somewhere during the training one of them had replaced the paint rounds in my gun with real bullets.

Our drill instructor, a fierce looking witch with a shaved head and the rather strange name of Dakka Kalashnikova, was in the air with us immediately.

"All of you on the ground now!" She screamed.

We all landed and dismounted from our strikers and I noticed that the other girls were smirking and laughing quietly as Dakka stormed up to us.

"Ankundinova, Gavrikova, Lisitskaia! The three of you don't move a fucking muscle! The rest of you useless idiots to your barracks now!"

The other two ran off immediately leaving us to face Dakka's wrath. The rage on her face was plain to see, it was boiling off of her. I was frightened but surprisingly the other two looked scared as well.

"Oh you've done it this time, Ankundinova." Dakka's voice was surprisingly quiet, "I know you torture whoever the new meat in the unit is even if I can't prove it and for some reason the idiots won't say anything, but you've fucked up now."

"Your negligence has _publicly_ endangered another witch's life. I know that somehow this was all on purpose seeing as I loaded those guns myself, which means that one of you stole live ammunition from the armory and loaded Lisitskaia's gun with it. So what was your plan? To let her shoot at you and then expect me to punish her?"

Kira said nothing only staring straight forward.

"She's going to be punished, rest assured of that. Her offence is a serious one and the punishment for it will match. Let's say ten lashes? Does that sound fair to you Gavrikova, for her carelessly endangering your life?"

Both of the other girls flinched when Dakka said this though I didn't understand why and I didn't know what Dakka meant by "lashes" either, but it couldn't be worse than what was done to me on a daily basis.

Galina hesitated before responding, "It...it sounds fair, sir."

"Good, since you are the offended party you get the pleasure of counting them off." Dakka replied, "Dismissed. You'll be called for later this afternoon."

Galina ran off without another word and Dakka rounded back to Kira, "Since you are the squad leader these girls and what they do are your responsibility." Her voice was pure venom at this point, "You are going to run around this base until you taste blood. Start. Now!"

Kira took off like a shot and quickly disappeared from sight. Dakka stared at me for a long while before saying anything to me, "You can stop this right here you know. All you have to do is admit to me what the other girls are doing to you, the proof of it is all over your body all I need is your word and it all stops."

I was so tempted to tell her what they were doing to me that I nearly burst into tears. That would mean that I broke, that I gave up and my father said that I couldn't do that. So I crushed the temptation and replied, "I don't know what you're talking about, sir."

Dakka sighed, "Think long and hard about this. Admit to what they're doing and I can get the lashes repealed."

"I don't know what you're talking about, sir." I repeated.

Dakka shook her head, "You may be noble but its for a useless reason. These girls try to kill you and you protect them? What do you think you're going to get out of it? You're noble, but you're fucking stupid." She sighed again, "Come on then, let's get you ready."

I was led to the base HQ building and put into a holding cell for several hours while I am assuming that Dakka was reporting to her superiors. No one said a word to me or even so much as glanced in my direction the entire time. It was as if I were not there. I thought it seemed a little over the top for a simple punishment. What exactly was "lashing" anyway? It sounded familiar but for some reason I couldn't connect the word to anything. When Dakka returned she looked very grave.

Opening the cell door she spoke, "Come on Lisitskaia, its time."

She began to lead me back outside and as I followed her I worked up the courage to speak, "Sir, may I ask what lashing is?"

Dakka halted immediately and turned to me with a shocked look on her face, "You don't...You're protecting those horrible girls and you don't even know what you're going to go through to do it? I'd almost feel sorry for you but you had your chance, you're doing this to yourself now."

"Sir?" Now not only was I confused but scared as well.

"Come on, you'll find out in a few minutes." Dakka replied.

When we got back outside I was shocked to see that everyone on base was standing in formation in the main courtyard. Every witch and officer, even the medical staff, stood rigidly at attention all of them facing the solitary dead tree that adorned the center of the courtyard. I was led in front of the tree and saw Galina standing nearby off to the side. On my other side was the head nurse flanked by two other nurses. In front of me was the captain of the military police, a coiled whip hanging at her side. I nearly vomited on the spot. I finally understood what they meant by lashing.

"Mstislav Lisitskaia," Dakka began, loud enough for everyone to hear, "for carelessly endangering the life of a fellow witch you have been sentenced to ten lashes with the sentence to be carried out immediately. Face the tree and hold your arms out."

I did what I was told and the two nurses stepped to either side of me and stripped my torso bare. I was too scared to be embarassed that my breasts were exposed to the entire base. Then they wrapped my arms around the tree and tied my wrists together. The tree was wide enough around that my body was pressed completely against it. I was essentially locked in place. The head nurse stepped to my side, turned my head to face her and forced a bullet between my teeth.

"Bite down." She said simply and turned my head back against the tree.

"Galina Gavrikova," Dakka continued, "as the witch who's life was put into danger you are to count out the lashes. Are you prepared to do so?"

"Yes, sir." Galina replied.

"Captain Popova, are you prepared to carry out this punishment?"

"Yes, sir."

Dakka took a deep breath, "Begin counting."

"One!"

The pain was immediate and horrifying. It felt like my back had been torn open. I cried out but the bullet in my mouth muffled the sound.

"Two!"

Oh Goddess my back was on fire! My teeth were breaking. I couldn't–

"Three!"

Goddess please let me go! I didn't know pain before! I felt something running down my back and soaking into my panties and stockings.

"Four!"

My legs went out and my body slid down, the rough bark of the tree scraping my skin. The nurses flanking me hooked their arms under mind and hauled me back up and held me in a standing position. I was sobbing at this point, I think.

"Five!"

I screamed around the bullet. More liquid ran down my back and legs. I could smell blood strongly in the air. Oh Goddess it was my blood.

"Six!"

My entire body went slack. I would have slid down the tree if it weren't for the two nurses supporting the entirety of my weight.

"Seven!"

Everything was pain. I felt myself teetering on the edge of consciousness. I was dying.

"Eight!"

My jaw went slack and the bullet fell to the ground. I no longer had the strength to keep my mouth shut. I was dying of pain and blood loss. I struggled and somehow found the strength to close my mouth and stand on my own. If I died I would do so on my feet.

"Nine!"

My legs buckled and I pissed myself. I'm sorry dad I couldn't–

"Ten!"

I woke up with no idea where I was and unable to move. Everything was very bright, very white, and there was a strange smell in the air. Infirmary, I was in the infirmary. Oh right, the lashings. I didn't feel any pain though but by the way my brain felt fuzzy and my body refused to move I was probably heavily medicated. Laying in the bed across from mine was Kira who was staring silently at me. There was an IV hooked into her arm but I couldn't figure out why. What had happened to her?

I'm not sure how long we stared at each other in silence before I could hear multiple footsteps approaching.

"Animal." Kira said quietly. It could have been the medication but I didn't hear any of the usual malice that she attached to that word. It was simply a statement.

The door to our room opened and the other girls from the 82nd came in completely ignoring me and heading straight for Kira.

"Kira don't scare me like that!"

"You had me so worried!"

At the moment I couldn't tell the difference between Galina's and Rusalka's voices but both of them immediately half-crawled into Kira's bed and covered her face in kisses. Kira giggled, _giggled_, weakly and wrapped her arms around both of them and held them close.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I promise!" Kira said, nuzzling each of the girls in turn, "Just a little tired is all."

Zarya glanced in my direction for a split second and then asked, "What happened that they put you in a hospital with animals?"

Kira chuckled, "Dakka told me to run until I tasted blood. I liked the taste so I kept running."

I started to fade back into sleep; the sound of their voices turning into a low murmuring. I was happy that they were ignoring me for once. I didn't think my body could take any more abuse even if I couldn't actually feel it.

I woke up again to find that Kira was gone leaving me alone in the room. How long had I been asleep? I managed to turn on my side, the pain in my back as I did so was terrible, to look out the window. Judging by the light coming in the sun was either rising or setting. My only hope was that I hadn't missed morning drill. I didn't want to be yelled at by Dakka and then beaten worse by the girls when we got back to the barracks for not showing up.

Gritting my teeth I struggled out of bed and managed to get on my feet. Standing up was awful, it felt like something was trying to pull my back apart. I gently touched my back and could feel large patches of gauze taped in place; underneath the gauze I could feel the hard ridges of staples. So my back had been cut open. The sound of the morning drill call drew my attention away from my wounds. I hadn't missed drill but I was going to be late. I looked around but couldn't find any trace of my uniform or even my boots. Oh well, I'd just have to show up in nothing but a hospital gown. After all that had happened I couldn't work up the strength to be embarrassed about walking through the base mostly naked.

I staggered to the girls standing in formation and fell in next to Kira. My head was still sluggish and it took me a moment to realize that Dakka had stopped talking and was staring at me.

"What do you think you're doing, Lisitskaia?" She asked.

"Sir, I'm sorry I'm late for drill and out of uniform." It sounded lame even to me but it was the only thing I could think of to say.

"What is wrong with you? Why are you even standing here?" Dakka asked.

"I will stand next to my witches as long as I am able to stand, sir" I replied.

Dakka grunted in frustration, "Do you realize you're bleeding?"

"I...I'm sorry, sir." I really didn't know how to respond to that.

"Fucking hell." Dakka muttered, and then spoke louder, "Lisitskaia you are in no shape to be standing in front of me. Get out of my sight and don't come back until you can stand at attention properly."

"Yes sir." I was relieved, maybe I would actually get some rest.

As I turned to head back to the infirmary Dakka spoke again, a weird note of pleasure in her voice, "But since you're obviously as tough as you are stupid you don't need to head back to the infirmary. Go rest in your barracks. Ankundinova! Petrowa! Help your squadmate back to her bed."

My relief drained away and was replaced with the numb depression that had become so familiar. The two girls flanked me and nearly carried me back to the barracks though they were surprisingly gentle about it. Even when we got back inside the barracks they kept carrying me over to where my bed was. I was stripped out of the hospital gown and laid face down on the floor where I usually slept.

"Get some rest, stupid animal," Kira said flatly, "because tonight we're coming for you."

They then turned and left. I wasn't afraid of what they were going to do to me when night came. Hopefully this time they would just kill me.

Indeed they did come for me in the middle of the night. I stared blankly up at the four of them in the darkness. They all seemed to be grinning down at me. Strong hands grabbed my wrists and ankles and I was lifted into the air and then set back down on my bed facing up. Galina and Rusalka sat on my legs, Zarya pinned my head between her knees and Kira sat on my chest. Whatever they were going to do to me they didn't want me moving but I wouldn't have resisted anyway.

Kira leaned down close to my face and held up a large needle and a pair of pliers for me to see. Whatever terrible thing she was going to do to me it had to be revenge for her getting in trouble along with me the other day.

"Look up at Zarya, stupid animal." Kira whispered.

I did as I was told and looked up at Zarya's expressionless face.

"Don't worry animal, this will be over quickly." Kira whispered and the other girls laughed quietly.

So they did plan on killing me? My heart lurched in my chest, but not much. In a large way it would be a relief to die. I closed my eyes and waited for whatever Kira was about to do. I felt her lean closer to my face followed by a sharp pain between my nostrils. I heard the sound of pliers clacking and then something tugged at my nose. Whatever she had done hadn't hurt much; had my body become so numb to pain?

Kira let out a slow breath and then spoke something in a gentle, loving voice that I will never forget, "Open your eyes Mstislav, its over."

It took me a moment to realize that she was actually addressing me. I opened my eyes and saw the other girls smiling back at me. Genuinely smiling at me. I was beyond confused at what was going on. The girls gently moved off of me but didn't leave the bed instead sitting along the edges of it.

"You can cry now, its alright." Kira said gently while reaching a hand out to stroke my hair, "You can talk, its all okay."

Hesitantly I replied, "Wh-what's going on?"

"You're one of us now." Kira said, touching the ring in her nose and then touching mine.

Mine. I had a ring in my nose now. I'm not exactly sure what was going through my mind at that time. Everything came crashing together all at once. I had a ring in my nose just like the rest of them. I was speaking and not being beaten for it. Nothing made sense, my head was spinning. I started crying, loud and ugly sobbing wracking my entire body. The tears I had been holding back since I had first arrived here were all trying to force themselves out at once. Kira laid down next to me and wrapped her arms gently around me. I instinctively buried myself into her, clinging desperately to her body, her warmth.

"Its okay, its okay," Kira murmured into my ear, stroking the back of my head gently, "we will be here for you all night. We will be here for you forever."

The girls each took turns holding me and comforting me through the night. Rusalka hummed a lullaby into my ear as she nuzzled my cheek; occasionally wiping the tears from my face. She gave me a kiss on my forehead as she left and Galina took her place. Surprisingly there were tears in Galina's eyes and instead of holding me she took my hands in hers.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please forgive us. Forgive _me_!" she pleaded, "We didn't think you'd get lashed for it!"

"No, I'm fine, its fine." I sleepily replied, "I'm okay, I'm not mad." I could barely put a sentence together at this point. Both my mind and body were beyond exhausted at this point, but it was true, I wasn't angry at any of them even with everything they had done to me. It was strange to realize but I loved these girls. It made no sense, I should hate all of them but all I felt for them was affection, love, something like that at least. If they had gone through the same thing I had then maybe that would explain why all of them seemed to close.

In my days of being an animal I had noticed that the four of them were all extremely affectionate toward each other, both physically and emotionally. Kira, Galina and Rusalka even seemed to be in some sort of relationship with one another. I forced myself to stop thinking about it. It felt good and that was all that I needed. After I forgave her Galina wrapped me in a tight embrace and snuggled close to me so that our noses were touching. I held her and tiredly rubbed her back until she slipped away and Zarya took her place.

"Mstislav." She said with a small smile on her face.

"Zarya." I replied.

She grinned wide and cradled me in her arms. I drifted in and out of sleep for a while and everytime I opened my eyes I would see Zarya looking back into my eyes with the same smile on her face.

At some point when I opened my eyes Zarya asked, "Mstislav, may I kiss you?"

I closed my eyes and simply murmured, "Yes."

Her lips were soft and the kiss was gentle. My first kiss spread a warmth and happiness through my body and heart. With the trailing off of that kiss I fell asleep. When I woke the next morning I found myself in bed with a blanket wrapped around me and a pillow under my head. It seems a simple thing now but at that time it was huge. I hadn't been kicked awake or screamed at. I hadn't woken up on the cold cement floor. I touched the ring in my nose and a smile broke out on my face. I was one of them now.

That is how I became an Ox-Girl. Though as I found out soon after that I would not be the last to suffer for that title.


	3. Founding Members

Chapter 3: Founding Members.

In the days that followed my fellow Ox-Girls went out of their way to take care of me as I healed. Since I couldn't sit up without being in pain or lay on my back for very long the other girls would bring me my meals and feed me as I laid helplessly in bed. It was a little humiliating but only at first. None of them seemed to mind and I could feel such genuine love and caring from them and hear it in their voices that I quickly got over it. They would help me in the shower, two of them holding me up and the other two washing me, change the gauze on my back, talk to me while holding my hand or petting my head even sleep curled up with me. They made me feel loved. No, that isn't quite right. They let me know that I was loved. During all of this I learned a lot about my Girls.

The other four had indeed gone through a version of the hell that I went through. Kira and Galina had been the first two into the 82nd, just the two of them alone in the barracks, and you couldn't tell by the way they laughed as they told the story but it had been brutal. According to them they had spent their first few moments alone in the barracks in complete silence, simple staring at each other, until Kira spoke.

"This is going to be Hell for a while."

Then they fell into each other, beating one another without mercy. For nearly a week every moment that they weren't at drill or in the mess hall they were fighting. No screaming insults or elaborate torture, just mindless brawling, just the two of them trying their best to destroy one another. Kira had the natural advantage being taller and heavier than Galina, also the fact that she was in training to become a boxer before she was drafted, but Galina seemed to enjoy the pain she dealt and received. She took every blow from the bigger girl and returned her own with-as Kira put it-her own special fury, grinning wide the entire time of course.

Every day they fought until they were both too exhausted to move; sleeping on the floor for the scant few hours before the call for morning drill came again. This continued until one day, both of them barely able to stand let alone fight, Galina managed to land a hit that knocked Kira off balance sending her toppling face first into a metal footlocker. The impact split her face open from brow to lip, giving her the distinct facial scar she still bears, and in that moment Galina let her guard down thinking she had finally bested the other girl. Instead Kira pushed herself up and swung her body around in a sudden burst of energy with a massive left hook already headed for Galina's face.

The blow landed squarely upon her jaw and snapped her head sideways with a vicious force. Galina dropped to her hands and knees immediately only half conscious and began to drool blood onto the floor. Kira stood for a moment longer and then collapsed from her own exhaustion and blood loss.

"I think you tore my face open." Kira murmured into the growing pool of blood around her face.

Galina's only reply was to spit one of her teeth out onto the floor and then crumple onto her side. The two stayed like that, drifting in and out of consciousness, until Dakka burst through the barrack door.

"Why are you two idiots late for–oh what the fuck is this?"

Kira opened an eye and looked up at her, "We slipped and fell."

That was the start of the Ox-Girls. After being released from the infirmary later that day they had pierced each others' noses under Kira's orders. Her familiar was an ox after all and it was her squad, even if unofficially at the time, and she had been the last one on her feet by a few seconds.

Shortly after this came Zarya who was originally from the far Eastern point of Orussia, which explained her thick, unfamiliar accent and olive colored skin. She had barely opened the door to the barracks before she was dragged inside and beaten by the other two. Again, there was little screaming or insulting and no special tortures other than the fact that Kira and Galina liked to grab her by her braided hair and sling her face first into the ground. At first Zarya had tried to fight back but quickly found out that when she did she was beaten worse; usually being held down and pummeled senseless until she was unable to move.

When the night came that Zarya was pinned into her bed by the other two and had the needed presented in front of her Zarya calmly said, "You can kill me. When you get to Hell my spirit will be waiting there to tear yours apart."

Her nose was pierced and she became an Ox-Girl.

Rusalka, who had been studying at an art school before the war, was the first one to get a taste of the more elaborate tortures. Not only was she simply beaten but screamed at and insulted without mercy. She was tied and bound to the shower fixtures and whipped across the face and body with bars of soap wrapped in rags. If she tried to speak at all a strip of leather was forced into her mouth and tied around the back of her head and the other girls made sure it stayed there for hours on end. When the time came for her to get her ring she actually resisted, grabbing for her sidearm hanging on her bedpost, before she was pinned down. (Of course it was unloaded as we weren't allowed to carry loaded sidearms around until after we graduated boot camp). She received her ring and became an Ox-Girl.

We had all suffered differently but the same. We had all been pushed up to our breaking point and then shoved past it. My father had been right. I felt closer than friends, closer than family to these girls. It is a feeling that is still there as strong as ever and one that I still can't describe. We had all suffered alone at the hands of those who were supposed to be our comrades and we had all made it through to the other side. One filled with warmth, love and affection. Again, it may sound strange but there is no way to fully explain it, and there is no one but an Ox-Girl who would fully understand.


	4. Nadezha Tamashevska (Princess)

Chapter Four: Nadezha Tamashevska. (Princess)

Fortunately witches tend to heal a good bit faster than those without magic and I soon found myself back on my feet again. When Kira saw my healed back for the first time in the showers, the four thick lines of scar tissue each flanked by rows of dots where the staples had been, she said simply, "Good look for a witch."

Her words made me grin and I replied, "Good look for an Ox."

Kira laughed and gave me a playful smack on the butt, "Damn right."

Upon returning actively to drill I found out that our unit was a bit of a special case. The 82nd was to be the first Heavy Attack Wing in the Orussian Army and as such all of the members drafted into it had strength based magic. Even our familiars reflected this. Kira and I were oxen, Galina was a grizzly bear, Rusalka an elk and Zarya a timber wolf. However our unit still lacked a few members before it would be considered complete so for the time we drilled with the 95th Fighter Wing and the 42nd Assault Wing. Needless to say the other girls didn't try and talk with us very much and we preferred it that way. We had each other and didn't need or want anyone else. Looking back it may not have been the most healthy attitude to have but it is just the way things were; I know none of us would have changed a single moment that we were together or how we did anything.

It wasn't long after I had regained my feet that we returned to the barracks to find a girl standing in the middle of the room seemingly waiting on us. My first impression of her was that she was absolutely gorgeous. She was taller than me, taller than Kira even, with midnight black hair that was knotted into a bun at the top of her head. Her features were lean and sharp, elegant even, and she wore a dress shirt that looked as if it cost more than everything I owned put together. She looked like a princess.

I thought I would have been nervous when this time came but as we approached her I found myself calmly smiling.

"Hello, my name is Nadezha Tamashevska. It is a pleasure to meet all of you." The girl said, speaking in very formal Orussian.

Kira tilted her head and just stared at Nadezha, waiting. The rest of us silently fanned out around her closing her in a loose circle.

Nadezha looked confused for a moment, one of slender eyebrows arching up, before bowing her head slightly, "I am sorry if I have offended–

Kira shut her up with a blow across her face, "Don't you dare speak to me, _princess_." She put so much disgust and hatred behind that word it would have been kinder to have called her a whore.

Nadezha immediately stood up straight, quickly glancing around at all of us, and then stared straight ahead face set and jaw clenched.

"What's the matter? Not used to being put in your place?" Kira asked.

When Nadezha didn't respond Kira put a knee into her stomach and then said to the rest of us, "At least she knows not to run her mouth. Girls, make the princess feel at home."

Galina jumped on her without hesitation tearing her shirt pieces in the process of stripping her naked.

"Look at you, princess, such pretty skin." Galina said, grinning wide, "You've never worked a day in your life, have you?"

Galina grabbed Nadezha's nipples and twisted them hard, "Such big tits too! You're like a cow!"

Nadezha was then shoved to Rusalka who caught her and stuck her in the ribs with several hard punches. "Covered in fucking baby fat too! You're such a spoiled little bitch!"

Zarya was next, grabbing Nadezha by her hair and forcing her down onto her knees. "Open your mouth, princess."

When Nadezha didn't respond quickly enough Zarya clenched her hand around Nadezha's jaw, forcing her mouth open. She then spit into her mouth and said, "Swallow, princess."

Nadezha swallowed and was then thrown over to me by her hair. I caught her by the shoulders and stared up into her face. It was my turn to hurt her now. Was I supposed to beat this girl? Insult her and torture her without mercy while the pain of my own beatings was less than a week old? The girl in front of me was trying to be strong and silent but I could see in her eyes that she was close to tears. She was confused and afraid the same as I had been not long ago. Could I willingly put her through all of that?

I leaned close enough that our faces were nearly touching, "I'm going to ruin that pretty face of yours, princess."

I hit her hard three times in the stomach and when she collapsed to the floor I ground the heel of my boot against her face. Could I willingly torture her? Yes, and I _wanted_ to. I wanted to hurt this girl I had just met. I wanted to make her cry. I wanted to see her curled up on the floor, beaten and bloody, broken and crying to herself.

We spent the next few minutes kicking her, smacking her body and yelling at her until she stopped moving or trying to defend herself. After that we left her curled on the floor, ignored.

I am fairly certain that we almost killed Nadezha. For some reason we seemed to concentrate on her chest while we were beating her and as a result a huge black bruise formed on the side of her chest that we used as a target. After a while she struggled to breathe and even in the shower she covered her side as best she could with her arm; even the water hitting it was too painful. She was allowed to wear clothes but moments after she put them on we would tear them off of her and rip them to pieces. We let her sleep in her bed but we tore her mattress down to nothing but springs. In the mess hall we would slam her face down into her food over and over until blood mixed with what she was eating.

Kira, Galina and Rusalka would force her against a wall and pummel her until she could no longer stand. Then they would hold her up against the wall and continue beating her, taking turns, until her body went completely limp. They screamed at her and laughed in her face the entire time, of course. Zarya was fond of pulling Nadezha around by her hair, which when it wasn't up in a bun came down to the small of her back, and slinging her to the floor where she would spit on her face and kick her while calmly telling her to get up on her knees. When Nadezha was finally able to get to her knees Zarya would hit her across the face hard enough to knock her back down where the whole thing was repeated until either Zarya grew bored or Nadezha became unable to move.

I did my best to ruin her face as I told her I would. I split her lips, blackened her eyes and bloodied her nose with my fists on a daily basis. Sometimes I would knock her to the floor and sit on her back punching the back of her head until blood started to pool around her face. There was a time in the shower when I caught her staring at me and I immediately slammed her against the wall. I forced my fingers into her mouth and pulled, stretching her cheeks open.

"Don't you fucking look at me, princess!" I screamed at her.

I pulled harder and saw the corners of her mouth split open and begin bleeding.

"Or do you want me to tear your face open?"

Again I pulled harder and she let out a noise of pain as more blood trickled down from her mouth.

"Come on Mstislav, let's go get something to eat." Kira called from the other end of the shower.

"Right there!" I called back and then leaned closer to Nadezha, "I catch you looking at me again princess and I'll tear your fucking jaw off."

I threw her to the ground by her mouth and then spit on her. She immediately curled up into the fetal position coughing and struggling to breathe. We left her laying there without a second glance backward. As long as she was still breathing, still alive, we didn't care how much pain she was in.

She endured us for six days before she broke. At that point all of her energy seemed to be focused on breathing and staying on her feet. She stumbled through drill and could only rasp replies to Dakka. If we had beaten her much more I'm sure we would have killed her outright. That night when we came to her we found her staring up at the ceiling with unfocused eyes and her chest hitching with labored breaths. We held her down while Kira climbed on top of her, careful not to touch the hideous bruise on her side.

"Hey princess, look at me." Kira commanded.

Nadezha's eyes rolled around in her head a bit before focusing on Kira, "If you...are going to kill...me I only ask...one small mercy."

Kira tilted her head, "What is that, princess?"

"That you...make it quick."

Kira grinned, "I promise it will be over quickly."

She pierced Nadezha's nose with the needle, slid the open ring through behind it and then cinched it shut with the pliers. Nadezha was now an Ox Girl, one of us.

Kira leaned down and kissed Nadezha's nose and then her forehead, "It's okay now, everything's fine. It's over Nadezha."

Nadezha took in a deep shuddering breath that ended in a whimper, "Truly...truly the honor is mine. Un...unfortunately I do believe I am dying. My...my...sincere apologies."

Kira chewed her bottom lip for a moment, thinking, "Alright girls, pick her up gently. We're going to the infirmary."

The four of us carried her as gently as possible while Kira led the way to the infirmary. Thankfully it was night and no one saw us as we made our way across the base; I couldn't imagine trying to explain the situation to one of the Military Police or worse, someone like Dakka. Inside of the infirmary we found only one older nurse on duty and at seeing us she was immediately up and ushering us to lay Nadezha down on a bed.

"Dear Goddess, this girl's been beaten half to death! What happened? Where did you find her?" The nurse asked, gently inspecting Nadezha's wounds.

"She wasn't beaten, she fell into a footlocker." Kira replied.

The nurse turned on us with a hard look on her face, "Do you think I fell off a broom yesterday? This girl's been beaten," she cast a look back at Nadezha, "frequently."

"I fell." Nadezha gasped.

The nurse sighed and rolled her eyes, "Yes, I'm sure you slipped and fell down a flight of fists." She seemed to consider the situation for a moment and then said, "You girls sit down over there and I'll patch her up as best I can. Though there isn't much that can be done about bruised ribs other than wrapping them tight."

It turned out that we had fractured three of Nadezha's ribs and while it was no doubt extremely painful it wasn't life threatening. While Nadezha recovered in the days that followed I found myself spending a lot of time talking to her. Even back then I think I was infatuated with her and strangely, to me, she seemed to return the feeling. Before Nadezha became an Ox Girl I spent most of my nights in bed with Zarya and we often held hands or exchanged kisses. After Nadezha got her ring though I found myself sleeping with her curled up on her uninjured side. Though we didn't kiss we did spend most of our time physically close to each other and it wasn't long before Kira spoke up with a wide grin on her face.

"Better watch out Zarya, looks like Nadezha's trying to steal your girl away."

Zarya looked up from the book she was reading, "What are you talking about?"

Kira nodded in our direction, "She's been snuggling up to Mstislav a lot, you know."

Zarya looked impassively over at us, "I...I'm sorry if I have mislead you Mstislav. While I do love you and I do enjoy sharing affections with you I don't have any, um, romantic feelings toward you. Nadezha you're free to go after her if you want."

Nadezha smiled, "I do plan to court this lovely young witch, thank you for your blessing." She then turned to the others, "Will I have your blessings as well?"

Kira, Rusalka and Galina who were all lazing atop one another in their bed (which was three of the beds pushed together to form one large enough for the three of them to fit comfortably) burst into laughter.

"Oh man! Oh man! Look at Mstislav! She's blushing all the way to her ears!" Galina cackled, which only made the blush on my face burn hotter.

"Nice going farm girl, landed yourself a princess!" Rusalka said.

"Of course you have my blessing!" Kira said grinning wide, "I love seeing my girls happy!"

I don't think I've ever blushed so hard in my life, and while the other girls were laughing and giggling there was no malice in it. They were happy for us, or for Nadezha at least. Though I suppose I would have been lying if I had said that the idea of being courted by her didn't excite me. That is how the Ox Girls gained it's sixth member and how I experienced the very first stirrings of a relationship.


	5. Illarion Dauksza (Child)

Chapter Five: Illarion Dauksza (Child)

Nadezha wasn't actually a princess but as it turned out she was actually royalty. She was the Duchess of Samara, a title that she inherited when her mother died while Nadezha was still a small child. She told us that she was exempt from the draft but had volunteered for service anyways saying that it was her obligation to do so. Her title got her no special treatment from Dakka or any of the other officers and truly she would have hated if it had. Of course she got special treatment from us but not because of being royalty but because she was one of us. We all got special treatment from each other, I suppose.

When Nadezha was able to join us for drill again the first thing Dakka did was come down on us with malicious excitement, "So, six idiots so far. Just two more to go until your squad is complete and your asses are mine."

"I certainly don't mind, sir," Kira spoke up, "but Galina and Rusalka are the jealous type. They might not like someone else taking my ass."

That comment earned her so many pushups that I'm fairly certain Kira still owes a few hundred to this day. We took our punishments together though and as we all dropped and began counting off Dakka continued.

"As soon as your last member is in place your actual training is going to start and I get the pleasure of being the one to give it to you. You stupid girls think what you've done to each other hurt? I'm going to show you what pain is. I'm going to break you completely. I'm going to grind you down until there is nothing left and I am going to enjoy every fucking second of it."

While we took her threat seriously we weren't afraid, confident in the fact that we could handle whatever she put us though. A day or two after that we were in our barrack idly passing an afternoon after Dakka had dismissed us from drill and then told us we were confined to our quarters for the rest of the day. Kira and Galina were sitting on their bed playing a card game I didn't understand the rules to. I was sitting behind Nadezha brushing her hair and she sat behind Zarya braiding her hair back against her head. Rusalka sat across from us drawing us with a sketchbook and piece of charcoal she had scrounged up from somewhere.

The sudden knock at the door stopped all of our activities and we were on our feet in a moment. It had to be the new girl; Dakka wouldn't have bothered knocking and no one else ever bothered us.

"Come in." Kira called out.

The door opened to reveal a small girl with wavy brown hair and bright green eyes. There was a smile stuck on her face and I swear she exuded cheerfulness in waves. She also couldn't have been a day over twelve.

"Who's little sister?" Rusalka murmured.

The girl stepped though the door and shut it behind her, "Hey guys! This is the 82nd right? I'm supposed to report there, it's the unit I got put into." even her voice was bright and upbeat.

Kira, hesitating for the briefest of moments, casually walked over to the new girl and stared down at her, "You have got to be fucking me."

The girl tilted her head to the side in confusion, "What? No. I'm supposed to be here! I was told that my unit was the 82nd. My name's Illarion by the way, Illarion Dauk–

Kira's fist connected with the side of Illarion's head with a sharp crack and though the girl's head rocked to the side she didn't appear to be in pain, only shocked.

"Stop yipping you ugly little dog!" Kira screamed at her and then turned and headed for us saying quietly, "Work her body, her head is as hard as granite."

We fell in on her and as Kira had instructed beat her small body and screamed insults at her until she was just a crumpled form curled up and whimpering on the floor. We beat and tortured a twelve year old girl. I will say that again because it is something that needs to be repeated, we beat and tortured a twelve year old girl. She received no mercy from us. We hit her hard and often. We screamed at her calling her a "fucking baby" and "ugly dog" among many other things.

Despite her noble upbringing Nadzeha turned out to be particularly violent toward Illarion. Her favorite thing to do was to grab Illarion by the ankles and violently jerk her legs out from under her causing her to fall flat on the cement floor. This caught on with the rest of us and soon the young girl couldn't take more than a few steps without one of us jerking her legs out from under her. Somehow this turned into us picking Illarion up and throwing her with as much force as we could; either into a wall, one of the beds or footlockers or straight up into the air to let her fall back to the floor. This turned into us playing catch with the small girl though instead of being caught by any of us we would drive an elbow or fist into her body as she flew toward us, let her drop and then quickly pick her up and toss her again. We would do this until we were too tired to continue playing.

We nearly worked ourselves to exhaustion in torturing Illarion. I swear she spent more time in the air than she did on her feet we tossed her around so often. We beat her constantly and screamed at her so much that we very nearly lost our voices from the strain. Despite what we did to her she always managed to pick herself up after a few minutes with a smile still on her face. Though as the days went on her cheerful smile became more and more lifeless as if she were smiling because she didn't know what else to do, so we knew that what we were doing was affecting her. Her body certainly showed signs of our abuse; wearing her uniform hid most of the evidence but when she took it off it revealed her small body to be covered in a patchwork of large bruises.

We knew we had her when she stopped trying to get back up after one of us had thrown her, instead just laying in a heap on the ground for a long time before slowly getting back to her feet. The smile was still on her face but it didn't look like a smile anymore, just a disturbing line on her face that never went away. She was sleeping heavily when we came for her and even when we pinned her down and Kira climbed on top of her she still didn't wake up.

"Wake up ugly little bitch!" Kira said and slapped Illarion hard across the face.

Illarion's eyes opened slowly and remained unfocused, "What are–

Kira clamped a hand around her jaw, "Stop yipping you fucking dog. One more sound out of you and it will be the last you ever make. Now look up at Zarya."

Illarion did as she was told and Kira leaned forward and pierced her nose. Illarion was an Ox Girl.

"It's okay, it's over. You can cry now, you're one of us now." Kira practically cooed as she placed kisses across Illarion's cheeks.

Though tears were slowly dripping from her eyes she wasn't sobbing or breaking down and she replied simply, "Why would I cry?"

"Ha! Tough little thing aren't you?" Galina said ruffling her hair.

"Better be glad she wasn't the first with you Kira, I think she could have given you a run for your money." Rusalka said slipping her arms around Kira.

Kira laughed and got up from the bed, "I suppose if she had been we'd be called the...what's your familiar Illarion? Also, what's yours Nadzeha? I'm sorry, we haven't asked you yet."

"There is no need to apologize, Kira." Nadezha said, "My familiar is a draft horse."

"A moose." Illarion replied sleepily, idly playing with the ring in her nose.

"The Moose Girls!" Kira laughed, "Not bad, but I think I prefer the Ox Girls."

"I have to agree, though I may be a bit biased." I added.

Kira winked at me and turned back to Illarion, "We'll sleep with you all night if you like."

Illarion nodded, "That's fine. Sorry I'm so tired, you guys kinda wore me out."

"We nearly wore ourselves out throwing you around so much." Zarya said, slipping into bed with Illarion and wrapping her arms around her.

Illarion mumbled something and buried herself against Zarya already falling back asleep. We took turns holding Illarion through the night and had to pry ourselves out of her arms when we had to go. The next morning she was back to the cheerful girl we had first met and her smile had regained it's life. I don't mean to say this in a rude way but other than being a witch she was not a special girl. I mean to say that she was just a normal twelve year old girl before being drafted. She was full of energy and intensely curious about all of us; bouncing back and forth between each of us and asking all kinds of questions about our pasts. She was also incredibly affectionate, which was something that we were used to, and frequently crawled up into one of our laps to cuddle against us.

So with Illarion we were just one member away from our squad being completed and Dakka's promised torture. The next girl would get it the worst with seven other people to beat her and scream at her. We all hoped she was strong enough to withstand it.


	6. Serafina Vikentieva (Broken)

Chapter Six: Serafina Vikentieva (Broken)

What can I even say about Serafina? Or really, where do I begin talking about her? If we had known about her past before meeting her, well, I can't say things would have happened differently but...I suppose it would just be best to tell it as it happened.

We were returning to our barracks from the mess hall and found Serafina sitting on one of the beds sharpening a knife; it was the kind with a hook on the back of the blade meant for skinning animals. She glanced quickly between all of us and jumped to her feet, taking several steps backwards as she did so. Her knife was held out to her side, it wasn't pointed at us but it wasn't pointed at the ground either. Even in those first few moments of seeing us she knew that she was in danger.

Serafina was tall, standing a little over two meters, and skinny to the point of looking unhealthy. Her black hair was cut short and unevenly and her bright yellow eyes twitched between all of us watching for the slightest movement. The flannel shirt and boots she wore were so worn and ragged that I was sure they were the only articles of clothing she owned. I could even smell her; a combination of wet earth, sweat and wild animals? Blood? Something I couldn't quite place. Everything about her was different from the rest of us and looking back we should have known something was wrong with her. We couldn't change anything though. She had to go through what the rest of us did if she were going to be a part of the 82nd.

Kira walked up to her showing no fear of the knife, "Now that's a dangerous toy. Why don't you hand it over?"

Serafina said nothing in reply she only stared back at Kira.

"I said hand me the fucking knife!" Kira shouted and punched Serafina square on the jaw.

Serafina took the hit like someone who was used to it and to everyone's amazement, or perhaps horror, took a swing at Kira. She didn't swing with her knife, just her fist, and Kira managed to dodge but the look of rage on her face was so pure that I felt a small chill go down my back. Kira hit her with two hard jabs to the face, I could hear Serafina's nose break on the second blow, grabbed the hand holding the knife and struck her wrist with her forearm. The knife clattered to the ground and Kira kicked it away finishing up her assault by driving her elbow into Serafina's jaw.

"Grab her and hold her still!" Kira bellowed.

We all went into motion but Galina got behind her first and pinned Serafina's arms behind her back while she was still stunned from Kira's blows. Kira dropped into a boxer's stance and immediately went into what looked like a training routine; hitting Serafina with a flurry of punches. Some of the hits were barely taps while others were thrown with all of Kira's natural strength behind them. After what seemed too short a time from how angry she looked Kira stepped away and sat on her bed, her hands folded under her chin and her face grimly set.

"Alright girls, go. I want this bitch broken tonight."

We all took turns holding Serafina while the others pummeled her mercilessly. There was nothing screamed at her, no special little tortures for her, there was only us hitting this girl as hard as we could manage. Serafina's reaction to her beating scared and confused me. Sometimes she would be screaming in blind rage, other times she would cry and sob like a child and then sometimes she would simply laugh as we beat her. In one of the moments that Serafina was laughing Illarion landed an uppercut directly to her jaw and dislocated it. Her mouth hanging open wide past what was humanly possible and still laughing I knew there was something terrifyingly wrong with Serafina at that moment. Illarion's next blow knocked her jaw back into place, thankfully, and sent Serafina crying again.

We all took several turns beating her except for Kira who remained sitting on the bed and only watched.

After a while Kira spoke up, "Close one of her eyes. I don't care which one."

So we did. All of our blows focused on Serafina's left eye ensuring that she wouldn't be able to see out of it for a long time. This went on for nearly two hours until our knuckles were bleeding and we were tired of beating her. At some point that I don't remember we had stripped her naked and I found myself holding her arms behind her back. Her body was covered in bruises and her face was in ruin. I thought she was dead on her feet honestly with how a streamer of bloody drool hung from her mouth and how much she was leaning forward. She still kept her feet though, I wasn't holding her up, she was standing under her own strength. Zarya was in front of her wailing on her body and face with an enthusiasm that had clearly faded some time ago. We were all tired at this point.

"I'm going to end this." Zarya said, "Is that alright Kira?"

Kira thought for a moment and then nodded, "Make her remember it."

Zarya snapped her fingers in front of Serafina's face, "Hey, look at me."

Serafina slowly brought her sagging head upward and Zarya began to speak while drawing her right fist back, "If you ever raise a hand to any one of us ever again the past two hours will seem like the best moments of your life, do you understand me?"

Serafina coughed weakly, spattering Zarya's face with blood, and her head dropped back down. I saw Zarya's tongue flick out and lick the blood from around her lips and her expression made it seem as if she were considering the taste. Zarya was strange in her own way.

"No no, look up at me." Zarya spoke slowly and kindly.

I could feel Serafina lean forward as if she were trying to get closer to the voice speaking to her and she lifted her head again in a series of jerking movements.

"Do you understand what will happen to you if you raise a hand to any of us again?" Zarya kept her voice kind and reached out to gently place her left hand on the other girl's face.

Serafina tilted her head against Zarya's hand and either nuzzled it or nodded in affirmation, perhaps both. Zarya took this as understanding from Serafina and with a grunt she swung her fist into Serafina's kidney with enough force to nearly knock her from my arms. Her entire body went limp and she pissed herself. I shoved her away and she immediately crumpled to the floor and curled up into the fetal position. We gathered around her to make sure she was still breathing at least before the others went back to their business.

I stared at her for a moment longer thinking that it was the most pitiful sight I had ever seen. Savagely beaten and laying in a puddle of her own urine, her too-skinny body covered in small scars and what appeared to be burn marks she looked like a dying animal. A hand gently taking mine brought me from my thoughts and I let Nadezha lead me over to the bed. She sat me down and began to brush my hair while humming a gentle song to me, putting all thoughts of Serafina out of mind.

"Mm, Rusalka care to join me in the shower? All of that fun has gotten me all worked up." Galina offered.

Rusalka responded by picking Galina up like a husband carrying a bride and heading for the showers, "Well I suppose I could tire you out, my love."

The two dissappeared into the showers and when the sound of running water could be heard Illarion looked up from cleaning Zarya's face, "Kira, can I ask a question?"

"Hm?" Kira didn't look up from Serafina's body.

"Um, what's the deal with you and Galina and Rusalka?" Illarion asked, "Are you all girlfriends with each other or something?"

"Yes." Kira responded flatly.

"Oh. Um, how does that work?" Illarion wrapped her arms around Zarya as if she were a stuffed animal.

I had to admit now that Illarion had brought it up I was curious as to how their relationship worked as well. Ever since I had come here they had just always been together; they didn't try to hide the fact but they didn't explain anything either.

Kira finally looked up, "You said it yourself Illarion, we're all girlfriends with each other." Getting only a blank stare in return Kira continued with a slight smile on her face, "I am in love with both of them, they are both in love with me and they are both in love with each other. I'm not sure I can put it all into words really."

"I don't think I really get it," Illarion said, now half in Zarya's lap and half hanging off the bed, "but I'm happy for you! All of you!"

Kira gave her a warm smile and then went back to staring at Serafina though her expression seemed less severe this time. After that it became fairly quiet and relaxed. Zarya read while Illarion restlessly moved around the bed and Zarya's body; apparently trying to see just how many ways she could drape herself over the other girl. Nadezha and I were discussing our favorite foods while she gently rubbed my temples threatening to put me to sleep. Kira continued to stare unfocused at Serafina looking deep in thought about something. I was finding it hard to keep my own eyes open; I wasn't sure if this was part of the courting that Nadezha had mentioned but if so I could definitely get used to it.

I woke some time later with my head in Nadezha's lap and I reluctantly pulled myself into a sitting position.

"Enjoy your nap?" Kira asked, grinning at me. In fact Galina and Rusalka were grinning at me too.

My response was to blush, stretch and make an 'mmm' noise while trying not to make eye contact with anyone. The idea of a romantic relationship still caught me off guard.

"So what are we gonna do with the kinda dead girl?" Illarion asked.

Serafina was indeed still laying where she was when I last saw her though she was still breathing. She was either unconscious or we had hurt her far worse than we had realized.

"Fuck her," Kira spat, "she can die there for all I care. She shouldn't have taken a swing at me."

"We gotta do something with her," Rusalka said butting her head lightly against Kira's shoulder, "it's starting to smell like piss in here and I don't think she can move...like at all."

Galina butted her head against Kira's other shoulder, "Can we at least put her somewhere else for a while?"

"No, fuck her, like I said she can lay there until she's dead for all I care." Kira said and then she gave a snort like an ox.

"Excuse me, Miss Ankundinova, but if that were true than I do not believe you would have kept vigil on her for the past five hours." Nadezha said laying the formality on thick even for her.

Kira rolled her eyes and snorted again, "Why don't we just throw her a party and give her a cake as well?" She knew she was being teased and was playing up the part, "What about you, fellow ox, do you have anything to add?"

I locked eyes with her and slowly began to lean back down toward Nadezha's lap. When my head reached it's destination I shut my eyes and whispered loudly, "I miss eating strawberries."

Rusalka laughed, "She says as she plants her face in a girl's lap."

"That's it!" Kira said, "She dies on the floor!"

We ended up dragging Serafina's limp body into the shower, being none too gentle about it, and ran cold water on her for a few minutes before dragging her back to the barracks. In that time Zarya and Illarion had cleaned up the mess of blood and urine and we dumped Serafina's body where it had been before. The entire time she hadn't made any noise or motion but her right eye remained open; if she were actually seeing anything was unknown.

Kira stretched and yawned, "Well, it's almost lights out and I'm tired from watching you beat the shit out of this stupid pile on the ground. Anyone coming to bed with me?" She asked looking at Galina and Rusalka.

The two of them wrapped their arms around each other, swayed for a moment and then Galina responded, "Mm, just the two of us tonight honey."

Kira smiled warmly at them, "Have a good night, lovelies." She looked around at the rest of us, "Any of you? Or do I get the bed to myself tonight?"

Nadezha wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against her, "I am afraid that Mstislav already has a pillow for tonight."

Illarion was sprawled across one of the beds crosswise, her arms and legs hanging off, already asleep.

"If you don't mind I would sleep with you tonight." Zarya said, moving over to Kira.

"Of course not, pretty girl! It's been a while." Kira replied.

"May I kiss you?" Zarya asked.

Before Kira could reply Rusalka, already in bed and cuddled face to face with Galina, responded, "If it's Zarya it's fine."

Kira shrugged, "Well then, sure, you can kiss me! We should get to bed though, I'm sure Dakka's gonna give us hell tomorrow when she sees what we've done."

The next morning at drill when Dakka saw Serafina she laughed; it was a confusing reaction. It was amazing that Serafina was standing let alone attending drill. Her face was discolored and swollen especially the area of her left eye which was swollen tightly shut and completely black. Dakka laughing at Serafina's condition was not what we had expected.

"Oh look at this," Dakka said strolling in front of us, "You girls have outdone yourselves this time!" She gave Serafina a once over, "The girl looks like she was hit by a truck! Twice!" Dakka laughed again and looked all of us over, shaking her head, "You girls don't know anything about her, do you?"

We said nothing.

Kira shook her head again and her voice turned serious, "When she kills all of you in your sleep I'm going to personally give her a two rank promotion." She let her words hang in the air for a moment before continuing in a disgusted voice, "Now drop and count 'em off until your goddamn arms break."

We hit the ground and began counting off pushups, Serafina included.

That night we were not killed in our sleep. Though before we went to bed we locked Serafina's knife inside of Kira's footlocker and literally kicked Serafina herself into a corner, threatening to break her legs if she moved from it. After that night Serafina stayed in the corner we put her in whenever she was inside the barracks. It was strange; she never seemed to react no matter what we did to her. When we hit her she took the blows without flinching or trying to move away. Screaming insults at her was like screaming at a post; not even a flicker of reaction just a dead-eyed stare. She seemed to enjoy the freezing cold showers, or at least not mind them, and we never got the chance to torture her in the mess hall. Serafina devoured her food so frantically that she was usually done by the time she sat down at our table. She would spend the rest of the time licking her tray clean and casting quick glances at our food.

When Serafina's left eye began to open again we decided it was time to give her ring to her; if we beat her much more we would probably cause permanent damage.

"Be careful when you go for her," Kira said, "I don't know how or when but she stole her knife out of my footlocker."

"Had to have been while we were asleep," Galina said, "Not like we ever left her alone in here. Pretty damn sneaky."

"I don't think she wants to kill us," Zarya added, "if she is quick and stealthy enough to steal her knife back while we slept then slitting our throats wouldn't have been too difficult."

"Just be careful," Kira said, "she's a strange one."

That night we slipped out of bed as quietly as we could and made our way to the corner where Serafina was to find her laying prone and staring up at the ceiling. She held her knife between her legs with the tip of it against the crotch of her panties.

"I'll cut it out before I let you take it." Serafina said. Her voice was monotone, emotionless. She made Zarya sound like Illarion in comparison.

"Don't worry stupid thing, we aren't after that." Kira said and in a quick movement snatched the knife away.

We picked her up and threw her onto the bed without incident and things proceeded as normal from there. We pinned her down and Kira pierced her nose without resistance.

"It's okay sweetheart," Kira said, stroking Serafina's hair, "it's over now, I promise. You're one of us! You can cry now, we promise everything's okay."

Serafina took a deep breath and her chest hitched once with a sob.

"There you go, let it all out. Cry all you need to." Kira murmured lovingly.

Serafina took another deep breath and her chest hitched again. Once. Twice. Then she began crying. Horrifying ugly sobbing that wracked her entire body. Tears poured from her eyes as she wailed in pain to a nearly inhuman degree. She cried with absolutely no restraint and it was frightening. Her body thrashed violently, more tears poured from her eyes than I thought possible and she screamed so raw and so loud that I was sure the entire base could hear her.

We did our best to hold her and comfort her but in the end all we could do was try to keep her from hurting herself and wait until she tired herself out. It took hours before her body was finally still and she quieted. The sun had already risen and we had missed the call for morning drill; Dakka would burst in soon and demand to know what was going on. I had no idea what we were going to tell her.

Without fail Dakka did indeed burst in through the door to see us all sitting on the bed (we had pushed enough of them together so that we could all fit) surrounding Serafina. Her head was in Illarion's lap at the moment but all of us were holding her hands or lightly stroking her back or sides.

"Why aren't you idiots at drill? What did you do to her this time? Did you actually fucking kill her this time?" Dakka demanded.

Nadezha slipped out of bed and stood at attention, "I apologize on behalf of the 82nd, sir. Miss Vikentieva had a nightmare and was experiencing severe emotional distress. We were awake all night in an effort to comfort her. She has just now calmed down and is resting. I request that you excuse her from drill today, sir"

Dakka raised an eyebrow clearly not expecting such a polite and formal reply, "Is that so?" she said glancing to Serafina, "Well I see she has one of those stupid rings in her nose now so I suppose I'll believe that you didn't spend the night beating the shit out of her." Dakka rubbed her temples, "All of you are excused from drill today, stay out of my fucking sight." As she left she added, "I'm going to kill all of you tomorrow."

Nadezha slipped back onto the bed and we spent a while in silence simply doing our best to comfort Serafina. It was Serafina herself who broke the silence, her voice as emotionless as before.

"My knife was a gift, it's the only thing I own." She stated and then began to talk for the next several hours barely taking the time to breathe as she told us what seemed to be her life story.

Serafina grew up in a cabin in the woods with her father who was a fur trapper. She never attended school and couldn't read or write. In her early years her father taught her how to hunt and trap and live in the woods without much assistance from the outside world. The knife had been a gift from her father for one of her birthdays, though she couldn't remember what date her birthday actually was, and she had kept it tied to her side since she had gotten it. It was a treasure to her, the only gift she had ever received. Her father beat her regularly and as she grew older the beatings intensified. She took these beatings as a fact of life, just how things worked, and never fought back. Things grew worse as time went on and came to a terrible climax around nine months ago.

Her father had been beating her as usual but then he had torn her clothes off and undone his own pants. He tried to pin her down with her legs spread apart, tried to rape his daughter, when it happened. As she put it she felt an angry strength pour through her and she kicked her father off of herself and across the room. She hadn't known she was a witch until that moment. With her newfound strength Serafina slammed her father's head into a doorframe several time and then drug him outside. She bound his ankles together and then hung him upside down on his own tanning rack. Then she slit his throat and watched as the blood drained from his body. After that she skinned her father, stretched his skin out on the tanning rack and went back inside.

For nearly nine months she lived by herself. She hunted animals for food though she was usually only able to catch rabbits and squirrels every few days which explained why she was so skinny. She never left the woods around her cabin instead staying in complete isolation. I still can't imagine such a terrible life or how strong (or broken) she would have to be to endure it.

Around a month ago she was found by the police in her area after several people in town had reported that her father hadn't shown up to sell his furs in quite some time. She was sitting at the table eating when the police came in. She answered all of their questions and offered no resistance when they took her away from her cabin. She was taken to the police department and held for hours, answering more questions about herself and retelling what had happened over and over. Eventually people from the Orussian military had show up and essentially told her that she was joining. She went through testing to determine her magical powers since she wasn't a registered witch like the rest of us and then she was sent here.

When Serafina fell silent again I was sure that all of us had tears in our eyes and we were all certainly speechless. What could even be said to a story like that?

Illarion pulled Serafina into a hug, "That's so...stupid!" she couldn't seem to find the words she wanted to use, "It's not right! That's not how parents are supposed to be!" Illarion herself was getting more and more upset.

Kira wrapped her arms around both of them, then Galina and Rusalka joined and then all of us were hugging each other in a large pile. This was it. The Ox Girls were complete now; there would be no more suffering at each other's hands.

"Shh, it's okay, no one's gonna hurt you now."

"We'll protect you, I promise."

"You're loved here, you're loved, you're loved."

"Everything's fine now, we have you."

It didn't matter who was saying what, the words were for everyone. We laid in the pile slowly coming untangled but still trying to cling to each other as drowsiness overtook us. It had been a very long night.

"Do you really love me?" Serafina asked.

"Yes, we really love you." I murmured into Serafina's hair as I had ended up between her and Nadzeha.

"I...I think I love all of you too," Serafina replied, "and I promise I will protect all of you."

"Heh, I don't doubt that for a second." Rusalka said.

Things quieted down again and we drifted into the last peaceful sleep we would get for quite some time.


End file.
